The present disclosure relates to sheet conveying devices for conveying sheets, and to image forming apparatuses provided with a sheet conveying device.
Conventionally, as sheet conveying devices for conveying sheets, those provided in image forming apparatuses are known. The main body of an image forming apparatus has a sheet discharge section into which sheets are discharged. A sheet conveying device discharges a sheet having an image formed on it toward the sheet discharge section.
In the image forming apparatus, for the fixing of developer to a sheet, the sheet is heated in a predetermined fixing device. As a result, the sheet discharged into the sheet discharge section may be curled, resulting in poor sheet stackability. According to a typical conventional technology, the sheet discharge section is provided with a corrugation member. The corrugation member presses the sheet face of the sheet discharged into the sheet discharge section and thereby corrugates the sheet. As a result, the sheet becomes less curled, leading to improved sheet stackability.
In the image forming apparatus, when two-sided printing, that is, printing in which images are formed on both sides of a sheet, is performed, the sheet having an image formed on one side is partly discharged to over the sheet discharge section and is then switched back to be conveyed into a predetermined two-sided conveyance passage. At this time, if the sheet is switched back with the corrugation member kept pressing its sheet face, when the sheet is conveyed into the two-sided conveyance passage, it produces abnormal noise, which is undesirable.